There has been plenty of debate this season about where Derek Jeter should be hitting in the Yankees lineup. But if Joe Girardi came to Jeter and told him he was moving the shortstop to the bottom of the order, his only other manager, Joe Torre, said Jeter would handle the move in stride.

“He’s always respected what the uniform stood for, and the people who made the decisions.”

Torre was speaking Monday at his Safe at Home Foundation golf outing at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, and wasn’t quite ready to count out Jeter, a fixture at shortstop throughout Torre’s 12-year run with the franchise.

“Derek, to me, and I’m a little partial, but if I’m sitting in another dugout, just like Bernie, I still think he had the ability to scare people in the other dugout,” he said. “Reputation does something. Is it there for every single at-bat every day? No, but you don’t know which at-bat it’s gonna come and bite you.”

During Torre’s tenure with the Yankees, he dealt with several aging stars, including Williams and Paul O’Neill, and admitted it could be a difficult tightrope to walk.

“The only thing you try to do is do what you feel is best for the team with the pieces you have,” Torre said. “I think sometimes we make too much of, ‘Yeah, he’s not as good as he was,’ and we think, for that reason, that he automatically can’t help your team. I don’t think that’s the case.

“I tried to be fair. Of course, I always felt I was loyal to players, but the most important thing is to be loyal to 25 … that’s first. I like to be loyal to individuals, but the most important thing is to do what’s best for the team.”

As Jeter and fellow “Core Four” member Jorge Posada’s age seem to be catching up with them, the same can’t be said for Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer continues to excel, despite approaching his 42nd birthday. He has 20 saves this season and an ERA under 2.00 for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.

“Bless him,” Torre said, drawing laughs. “And the big smile on his face is the best for me, because he comes in there as this unimposing person, the nicest guy in the world who’s so lethal. It’s great to see, and he obviously takes good care of himself, and he clearly still has the fire burning in his stomach.”